


Spectrum

by InuokaSoap



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space, Gen, HQ Brofest Journeyman Tier, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-16 06:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14158803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InuokaSoap/pseuds/InuokaSoap
Summary: A project nobody remembers, a room nobody can enter, a universe on the cusp of revolution.





	Spectrum

**Author's Note:**

> This took me until the very last minute. Seriously. I have tons of stuff written, but nothing in a cohesive order. This will absolutely be added to as time goes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently spending 7 weeks on worldbuilding isn't very good for a two month challenge.

**Feleau, Alpha-A-00-47A**

The sunlight reflects off of every tiny ripple in the lake. The water is cool and reaches just above Sou’s knees. Fish swim in between his legs and dance with gemstone scales. Each colour reflects off of Sou’s skin, turning him into one of them. He misses this. Lev runs around him trying to catch something, but everything ends up slipping through his fingers. Sou watches as Lev keeps falling over himself, pouting with every failure. He watches as Lev forms a new strategy and he can’t help but laugh as Lev crouches like a cat, completely oblivious to anything that’s going on. Lev chooses his prey, and sits completely still. Sou doesn’t want to speak, he’s scared he’ll ruin it. Lev wiggles, just like a cat does, and pounces. Sort of. He jumps at the fish and flails his arms, completely failing to do anything aside getting soaked. He folds his arms and pouts and sits cross-legged in the water like a toddler who can’t get his way. Sou walks over and sits by Lev’s side, patting him on the shoulder to comfort him.  
“Don’t worry about it Lev, I personally think you make a wonderful cat.” Sou stops to think. “Maybe you’d be like one of the ones who got famous for having really funny facial expressions!”   
“Yeah!” Lev perks up  at the word ‘famous’, but then he realises exactly what Sou said. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”   
Sou bursts into laughter. Lev splashes him and gets lake water in Sou’s mouth. He splutters, but he can’t stop laughing. Lev splashes him again, and again, and again. Sou laughs and begs for mercy, but there is no mercy from Haiba Lev. He is cold and unforgiving and not a tall, soft, slightly dysfunctional mess.

He misses this. It’s been a long time since Sou has been home. It’s also been a long time since Mothership has been in the Alpha system on his rare days off. It’s strange to see Lev so rarely. He’s always been there, by his side in one way or another, and sometimes Sou feels bad for leaving him behind. Sou finally recovers enough to splash Lev back. He forces Lev to retreat, and he runs to where the water reaches his waist, “come and get me” written all over his face. Sou can’t help but grin. At this moment, it feels like he never went away.

Sou runs up, his speed doing him several failures, and he splashes Lev again with unrelenting force. He flails, long limbs flying everywhere. Sou notes that he looks like a giant spider. Lev pushes him. Sou loses his balance, he grabs onto Lev’s shoulder and they both topple over, landing in the water and vastly annoying a group of fish. Still gripping on to each other, every single fibre of them laughs.

Things really haven’t changed at all.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

The wind blows at Sou’s back. Tall grass and wildflower stems slip through his fingers. His task is clear: to find and eliminate the opposition. His mind works over everything Captain Nekomata told him before the mission. First and foremost his most important instruction was not to lose his weapon. Sou knows this, it’s been drilled into them since the beginning. Then he remembers his strategies.

Sou is big and loud. He fights with his agility and constant force. He moves quickly so he doesn’t have to be quiet and he’s bad at forming strategies. The opposition is small and wiry and stealthy. He fights with silence and strategy and well-laid traps. The meadow is vast, the plants reach up to Sou’s chest and make it difficult for Sou to spot where his enemy is. The ground is impossible to see and should Sou try to run he could very easily fall into a trap. Quite frankly, Sou couldn’t be at more of a disadvantage. Sou tries to think of something, anything to do. He knows he doesn’t have much time. He looks around, and he thinks. It’s far too quiet. The breeze seems to have fallen completely still. This is bad. Sou reaches for his belt and his stomach lurches when he finds it empty. His opponent knows far too much, and he’s used that to his own advantage.

Sou is well aware that searching is at best futile and at worst fatal. If he stays, it’s very likely he’ll be ambushed with no chance of fighting back. He knows it’s dangerous, but his best option is to run. He’s not intelligent, he’s not stealthy, he’s not incredibly strong, but Inuoka Sou is fast. He looks around, searching for something his gut trusts. He decides on a direction and takes off. As soon as he takes his first step something snakes around his ankle, it’s white hot and it burns. Sou curses, but he did expect this. Nonetheless, his feet choose a path and he takes it. He tears through the field as much as he can bear. His ankle slows him down considerably, but he prays he’s moving fast enough to gain some kind of a lead. The pain is excruciating and tears sting the corners of his eyes. He’s so tired. He needs to stop. Sou finally decides to turn his head back, to see what’s going on. Despite his reduced speed, he’s going fast enough to make his opponent compromise his stealth. Sou spots the tracks in the flowers and resolves himself. His opponent is not far behind, but he’s considerably more visible. He’s still at a heavy disadvantage, but he can try to do something.

Or so he thinks. A tangle of weeds grabs at his foot, he stumbles and tries to keep running but he can’t save himself. As he falls, Sou grabs at whatever he can to startle the enemy. Thankfully his hand lands on an arm and he feels a weight tumble onto him. Sou looks up at his opponent’s startled face. Sou tries to throw a punch but a flash of indigo light fixes his limbs to the ground with the same searing pain as the trap. Sou can’t help but scream. It’s unbearable. Fire courses through his body and every lick of flame is torture. Sou tries to struggle, but he’s paralysed. The most he can do is keep his eyes open and watch in horror as the enemy pulls Sou’s own blade from his belt.

The battle is lost.

 

Sou is about to die.

  
  


And that’s exactly when he comes round.

Sou pulls the simulator mask off his head and sighs. He leans back in his chair, closing his eyes and feeling sorry for himself. This was his worst performance in simulation training yet. As he sulks, he feels a pressure on his shoulder. Sou jumps out of his skin when he sees Shouhei by his side. He always seems to just appear like that. Shouhei gives Sou a smile and a quick pat on the head.  
“Sorry about your virtual limbs… and your virtual chest… But you did… _blooming_ great.” Shouhei can barely even speak as he chortles to himself. Sou shakes his head and gives Shouhei a gentle push. He still has a lot of work to do before he can catch up to his team, but they’re all so kind and supportive. In their own ways.

“The Captains aren’t gonna be very pleased…” Sou rubs the remains of the simulation out of his eyes. Shouhei just stares. He’s evidently decided that he’s done with words for now.  
“I guess I should go get yelled at, huh?” Sou says. Shouhei nods, and Sou laughs a little. He really can’t wait to work with everyone. As he stands up to head to the control room,  Shouhei stands with him. He doesn’t let him go alone.

 

**Elite Unit Living Quarters, Intergalactic Peacekeepers Central Ship, commonly referred to as Mothership**

**Currently in Alpha-A System.**

 

The common room is incredibly quiet. Everyone’s occupying themselves with something. Kuroo’s sprawled on the floor reading. His processing glasses whir just over the noise of Kenma’s gaming headset. Sou’s seen advertisements for a contest circling the ship’s network; Kenma’s probably infuriating a lot of people right now. In the far corner of the room, Shouhei’s watching an archive tape of some stand-up comedian from a planet long destroyed. He always seems to alternate between that and the most terrifying horror film you could conceive. Sou shudders at the thought, last time even the noises kept him awake for weeks. Akane’s half asleep, resting somewhere between Taketora and Alisa who are hypnotised by the stress light that Morisuke is throwing around with incredible proficiency. He seems to have a lot on his mind. Kai just sits there, letting everything wash over him. Yuuki is the only person who stays by Sou’s side. He has a hand on Sou’s. A small comforting gesture that makes things feel a little bit calmer. The common room is almost silent, but it feels far too loud. Sou can’t help but blame himself for that. He thought he knew what to expect, but he’d never expect… that.

Not one person wants to look at Sou, and if they do then their eyes just snap away again.

Every second feels like an hour. There’s whirring and bouncing and the slightest of shuffles, but nothing happens one minute after the next minute after the next. It’s beginning to choke all of them.

 

“Sooooo.” Kuroo speaks up, evidently unable to take any more tension. “The lesson from that is to never lose your weapon, huh.”  
A joint chuckle circles round the room.   
“I really didn’t think he’d go in that deep.” Taketora adds. The room nods. “But thanks to you Captain Nekomata thinks we’re all saints.”   
“The point _I’d_ like to make is how scary Captain Naoi was.” Akane says, surprisingly awake and alert. She earns a shudder in response.   
“I didn’t even think he was capable of saying things like that.” Alisa agrees.   
“They must’ve have a point, though.” Morisuke interjects. The stress light flutters a little in his hand. “If what they say about the weapons is true, then had that had been a real fight we could all be in serious trouble.” Sou’s face falls.   
“I’m really sorry…” He says dejectedly. He knows that he doesn’t need to apologise, but what if that was a real mission? He knows he needs to get better, and fast. The last thing he wants is to get kicked out of the elite group he’s worked so hard to get into.   
“I think they went a tad overboard.” Yuuki moves his hand on to Sou’s shoulder. “It was just training! Besides, he had such a huge disadvantage in there, and if he was up against someone with a fighting style like Shouhei...”   
Shouhei nods from his corner. “Did good.”   
“That might be the case,” Kai says “but we ought to exercise caution at all times. I don’t understand why we can’t know any more about these weapons, but they’re obviously important.” The room becomes still again. Nobody really knows why everything is quite so secretive. Sou mulls it over in his head, but he can’t think of anything. Or rather, he can but it’s just out of reach.

Think...

Think...

_Think..._

  
“It may well be nothing.” Kenma stands up and puts his headset in his pocket. “It could be part of our training, to form trust or something.” He heads to the door to leave, most likely to go to his dorm. “I don’t think we should worry about it.”

 

With Kenma gone, the silence makes it easy to tell that he’s worrying about it.


End file.
